Kenya's TransCentury swings to H1 2016 pretax profit

Kenya's TransCentury Ltd said on Tuesday it swung to a 1.19 billion shilling ($11.75 million) pretax profit in the first half of 2016 from a loss of 646.34 million shillings in the same period the year before, helped by lower finance costs.

The company said in a statement its net finance costs fell to 202.2 million shillings from 496.96 million shillings, which helped offset a 20 percent drop in its revenues to 4.14 billion shillings during the period ended June 30.

TransCentury, established as an investment club in 1997 by a group of wealthy Kenyans, mainly focuses on electrical equipment and engineering work and also has operations in Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and South Africa.

"The group is poised to report improved performance in the second half of the year as we continue on a growth trajectory with a growing order book in our power division," it said.

"In our power division, we see a strong demand in our primary markets with continuation of electrification programmes and development of infrastructure projects in the region."

TransCentury's earnings per share rose to 4.97 shillings from a loss per share of 2.16 shillings in the same period in 2015.